/m/omnichatter

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If you're going to be saddled with the Jeter Fellatio Tour on your ASG roster, you might as well bat him first, hope he gets a single, and then pinch run for him immediately with a good player. Assuming you're playing to win. Gets the 'crowd loves Derek Jeter' moment, then gets him out of the game before he can really torpedo your chances. He's not getting more than two at bats anyway.

Michael Brantley is to baseball as the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man is to sugary confection cartoon mascots. That is, he is the only one that has ever exploded all over New York City in a mid-80's blockbuster starring Bill Murray. Expect much stomping and stepping-on of cars, but he will not be allowed to wear his sailor's suit. (Selig says that it violates the sanctity of the all star game.)

Devin Mesoraco is an Italian sports car. Why it has been named to the national league all-star team is a mystery.

Charlie Blackmon is an innovative chef who is bringing farm-to-table dining to downtown Denver at his new Charlie B-stro. Early reviews were very positive, but there is doubt among local foodies that it really has staying power. Michael Cuddyer is expected to return to the restaurant scene later this season, at which point many expect the B-stro to fight with Corey Dickerson's C-Dick Bar and Grill for customers.

Why would anyone expect to see full plate appearances during the All-Star Game??

You do realize that the majority of the broadcast will be spent interviewing players in the dugout, on the sidelines, fans in the stands, DEREK JETER!!!!11!!1!1, local broadcast teams, etc. The game is secondary, even if it does count.

#10-- Yeah. And I realize it's going to be even worse than usual this year with the Jeter thing (I'm already dreading the moment when he goes out to shortstop to start the 5th inning, only for Farrell to send in Alexei Ramirez to take his place so he can walk off to one final standing ovation).

But still...I'm getting older, I have a kid now, and I'm starting to lose my handle on who a lot of the younger stars are--most of these guys I know only by their statistics. I like to have at least some sort of image in my head when I read my baseball stuff.

I'm getting older, I have a kid now, and I'm starting to lose my handle on who a lot of the younger stars are--most of these guys I know only by their statistics. I like to have at least some sort of image in my head when I read my baseball stuff.

There are 10 or more 2014 AllStars I've never heard of before. I assume all of them can't be middle relievers from also-ran teams. Like, the first baseman from the A's? I guess that guy's good or something, right? Moss something? Never heard of him before this game.

For all the talk that the ASG is outmoded now that MLB.TV exists, and interleague is happening all the time, and there are nationally televised games on regular cable at least 5 days a week, this thread is really showing that baseball fans mostly just watch their team and may or may not know the other players in their team's league.

Production enhancements planned for use during the 85th MLB All-Star Game:

SideTrax
New to MLB on FOX coverage and this year’s All-Star arsenal is SideTrax from Hawkeye Technology. True to its moniker, SideTrax graphically presents the pitched baseball as it travels through the strike zone from a side perspective and also offers a view of the ball as it sails through a virtual 3D strike zone that appears suspended over home plate.

Diamond Cam
First deployed in 2005 in standard definition, Diamond Cam returns to the All-Star Game this year, but for the first time in crystal-clear HD. The camera, using a specially-crafted prism not much larger than a few grains of infield soil, is positioned in-ground in front of home plate and creates striking images via wireless, radio frequency transmission.

N-Cam
An optical tracking technology that is also new to the All-Star Game, N-Cam creates the appearance of 3D graphics in the real environment and has been used in FOX Sports’ studio production since 2013, Super Bowl XLVIII and during SpeedWeeks in the 2014 Daytona 500.

FOX Super Zoom 4K Cameras
Introduced in 2012, 4K “Super Zoom” cameras produce pictures with five times the resolution of normal HD cameras and capture action at 120 frames-per-second. The resulting detail is remarkable with the ability to zoom into an area of interest with incredible detail.

Phantom Cameras
Ranging from 2,000-3,000 frames per second, the “FOX Phantom Cam” famously captured San Francisco Giants batter Hunter Pence’s “three-hit” swing in Game 7 of the 2012 National League Championship Series. The slowed-down video showed Pence’s cracked bat strike the ball three times en route to a three-run double. FOX’s two Phantom Cams are located along the first and third base camera wells.

X-MO Cameras
Three “X-MO” cameras are located at centerfield and halfway down the baselines of first and third. These specialty cameras shoot at up to 400 frames-per-second.

Super-Mo Camera
FOX’s “Super Mo” camera is positioned in centerfield and shoots up to 540 frames-per-second

FOX Home Run Tracker
Previously used during MLB on FOX postseason coverage in 2012 and 2013, the FOX Home Run Tracker will be used in replays to graphically represent the trajectory of a batted ball’s travel and measure its distance.

For all the talk that the ASG is outmoded now that MLB.TV exists, and interleague is happening all the time, and there are nationally televised games on regular cable at least 5 days a week, this thread is really showing that baseball fans mostly just watch their team and may or may not know the other players in their team's league.

I cop to that entirely. Outside of the major superstars - Miggy, Trout, etc - I don't know much of anyone in the AL. I found that quitting fantasy baseball 10 years ago completely undermined any desire I had to keep up with players outside of the NL.

Production enhancements planned for use during the 85th MLB All-Star Game:

X-MO Cameras
Super-Mo Camera

I'm surprised FOX isn't employing the Mo Rivera Camera so we can all enjoy in real time what Mariano Rivera thinks about the game as it unfolds. Anything to distract from the game taking place on the field.

Instead of these increasingly intrusive pointless camera views, I'd like to see what I recently saw for the first time on a game on the MLB Network and I hope becomes a fixture of future games.... a small graphic of the field in the top right corner of the screen with red dots showing where the defense was positioned. BRILLIANT!

Play fantasy baseball. Nothing has done more to keep me up to date with modern players.
For a long time I could recite every WS champ/MVP/CYA?rOY till about 85 but things got hazy after that.
Now, playing fantasy, I not only am fully up to speed with all the modern star players, but I know more about third and fourth relievers than I ever did.
Seriously. Every player on these teams has crossed my fantasy radar at some point in the season. Some of them (Simon, Teheran) I've streamed until others snagged them, others such as Frazier and Dozier I picked up. It's all kinds of awesome re keeping me in the game

The All-Star Game is TODAY? That means the Home Run Derby was yesterday. I didn't even notice when the Home Run Derby participants were announced, and now it's over. This has thrown me for a loop.

Didn't we have like a 400-post Home Run Derby thread last year? What's happened to this site? I blame the World Cup.

Crispix, the site was down for a lot of people yesterday and for much of today as well.

Anyway... IT'S TIME TO TAKE CHECKLIST ITEMS. What I've got so far (once the game starts, this will be only once a page, with the exception of the end of the game- also this is for the game broadcast itself starting from the last time they go into the booth leading up to first pitch, so if Idina Menzel sings a song about Ted Williams hitting the Eephus, that doesn't count):

As a kid, I always wondered how they'd deal with a recently-traded all-star. Color me underwhelmed.

They should have let him start. For BOTH TEAMS. Pitch the top of the first for Oakland. Pitch the bottom of the first for Chicago. Wear one of those camo jerseys they all trot out on "let's dress up like the military" days so no one can see him.